The present invention generally relates to an information recording device such as, for example, an electronic cash register and, more particularly, to an information recording system for outputting pieces of information recorded in the information recording device, and a method therefor.
An electronic cash register widely used in shops, department stores and like establishments is an effective instrument to record transactions of goods sold and the amounts of money received as a result of such transactions. A certain type of electronic cash register currently available in the market has the capability of outputting recorded pieces of information under a special mode in the form of a report or statement. Examples of the report bearing the information outputted from the electronic cash register include a sales record for each day or for each zone of business hours, an adjustment report bearing a record of business dealings such as discount, correction and/or return of goods once sold, and a price look-up report bearing a record of prices of special goods and the status of sale.
In some of the conventional electronic cash registers of the type referred to above, the report may not be issued to all who have handled the cash register, but to a limited number of persons, such as those of the management, who are assigned a respective secret code. In other words, these conventional cash registers are of such a model that only when the secret code inputted in the cash register coincides with that preset and stored therein, the machine can issue the report in the form of a printed sheet. Each secret code referred to above is something like a key necessary to open the door of an electronic cash register.
On the other hand, information recorded in the conventional electronic cash register has a varying degree of secrecy, and the information of higher secrecy would be one which is to be disclosed only to the management whereas the information of lower secrecy would be one which may be accessible to any operators of the cash register. Accordingly, if the secret code is allocated to all of the operators, some pieces of information of higher secrecy can not be protected against disclosure to person of lower secrecy level.